Get outside and play: A connection with nature enhances well-being

VINCE CASSARO, The Patriot-NewsSchool students tour Wildwood Park in Harrisburg to learn about the wetlands and the animals that live there.

At any given time in the Lindquist family backyard, there might be a low ropes course, a fort made from old apple crates or a frog serving as a temporary pet.

One year, after their Thanksgiving dinner, the Lindquist children learned how to descend a tree with a harness on.

For Molly and Erik Lindquist of Upper Allen Twp., spending time outdoors with their children adds to their quality of life. And increasingly, research is confirming that building a connection to nature can have a positive impact on overall health.

“I grew up on a dairy farm part of my life with cornfields as my backyard and both of us were always active and outdoors as kids,” said Molly Lindquist, 42. “From the time our four kids were little, we made being outside a priority. We were out hiking a week after our oldest was born.”

That influence has rubbed off on their children, including Josiah, 18. “I feel I would go mad if I couldn’t go outside each day for at least a half an hour,” he said.

A beneficial connection

“Our kids know what it’s like to dress a chicken, to pull a carrot out of the ground, to roll a log and find a red back salamander under it,” said Erik Lindquist, 43, an ecology professor at Messiah College in Grantham. “We’re very purposeful in making sure our kids are not in front of the TV. Being outside in nature is great exercise and gives you a connection to the rest of the world.”

Sixteen-year-old Abbey Lindquist said that connection has given her an appreciation for nature beyond just looking at a pretty sunrise or sunset. It’s also fun. “It’s been great to just go out and get muddy without our parents freaking out,” she said.

Creative and free play, exploration and outdoor games help children tap into their imagination, interests, skills, problem-solving, reasoning abilities and self expression, said Launa Snyder, outpatient coordinator of behavior health services at Holy Spirit Hospital in Camp Hill.

“Playing outside is developmentally important and influences the way a child develops emotionally, socially and physically,” she said. “While it may seem that children are ‘just having fun,’ there is a lot more occurring that is critical for a child’s healthy development.”

Studies have shown that time spent in nature impacts a child’s ability to concentrate and be self-disciplined. Access to green spaces also has a beneficial impact on health and health-related behavior that can counteract the effects of poverty and inner-city deprivation, according to a study from England reported on by Children & Nature Network.

Adding outside time to a family’s already jam-packed schedule can be a challenge, but it’s one worth taking on, the Lindquists say.

“We have always been able to build wigwams, teepees and forts along our woods. We hang hammocks in the trees and spend lots of time outside,” said Amelia Lindquist, 13. “Our parents taught us to use our imagination.”

A sense of wonder

David Foster, a biology professor who helped design the curriculum used for the 8,500 school children that visit the Oakes Museum at Messiah College every year, said nature unleashes a wonder in children that little else rivals. The museum, which houses more than 40,000 specimens, introduces the children to mammals, birds, insects and fossils.

“When kids learn a bird call or look for invertebrates in the stream or learn about an edible or medicinal plant, they love it,” he said. “It’s a shame that we’ve become so accustomed to our climate-controlled houses — in the summer, we don’t want to be too hot and in the winter, we don’t want to be too cold — that kids don’t get to experience these things outside anymore.”

For Foster and his wife, Meg, after school hikes, sleeping in backyard tents and watching the annual migration of salamanders into a nearby breeding pond were part of family life with their now-college age children.

“We built it into our lives, actually saying, ‘This will be time we set aside to be outside,’” Meg Foster said. “Our kids were observing plants and birds and learning their names. They were more relaxed in their outside world and they could concentrate better on their homework when they came inside.”

As coaches for South Mountain Elementary School’s Envirothon team, the Fosters have witnessed the positive results that interacting with nature has on northern York County children. The Envirothon is a national competition that starts on the county level as students learn about natural resources and compete at a spring meet.

“Sometimes it draws kids that may not be the most studious in school, but they are very inquisitive about nature and they feel a true connection to it. Several of these kids have grown up to choose careers in science because of this early experience,” said Meg Foster, a coach for 14 years.

“Kids definitely don’t get outside nearly as much as they used to, but I don’t think the news is all bad,” said Jane Webster, environmental educator at the Olewine Nature Center at Dauphin County’s Wildwood Park. “We do see a lot of kids come in with their families to tour our nature center or go for a walk on our boardwalk.”

Still, Webster said she is surprised at how often a child visiting with a school group will ask, “Do you have alligators here?”

“To me, that says here is a child who has not had that exposure to being outside,” she said. “One girl saw a cardinal through her binoculars and said, ‘Oh, what is that red bird?’ She went on and on about this bird, and it was just a cardinal, but when I looked at it through her eyes, I could appreciate it all over again myself.”

When kids have the chance to experience nature with their senses — seeing a cattail seed, touching a snake skin, smelling a sassafras leaf — they make a physical connection that is imprinted on them for life, Webster said.

Making nature a priority

With a little effort and creativity, families can make nature a part of their world.

“If you take your child on a 50-mile backpacking hike, they’ll probably hate hiking the rest of their life, but how about taking them to the flat trail at Pine Grove Furnace State Park?” Foster said. “Plant a small garden and eat from it, letting it become part of you in a physical way. If parents make the outdoors a priority in their life then their kids will too when they become adults.”

Parents should first choose simple activities, such as neighborhood walks, picnics and visits to parks and natural areas, suggested Gina Padilla, program coordinator at Kings Gap Environmental Education Center near Carlisle.

“Parents should get some basic natural history books or nature-themed stories from the library to stimulate ideas and understanding about what they might experience in a particular location,” she said. “Appreciating the natural world is more powerful and satisfying when you know something about what’s around you.”

It also makes for great family bonding. Joshua Lindquist, 14, said he most enjoys walks and hikes taken together as a family.

Ultimately, growing a connection to nature benefits more than just people; it benefits the environment, Molly Lindquist said.

“If you learn to appreciate nature and connect with it, you will want to protect it and preserve it for the future,” she said.

A cure for nature-deficit disorder?

The term "nature-deficit disorder" first appeared in Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv in 2005. In the book, Louv explains how children's lack of exposure to nature could be driving obesity, attention disorders and depression. The book and other research studies spawned a national movement to create more environmental education and get children outside. Learn more at www.cnaturenet.org.

Go play

Check out these great local places to take your family for a day trip:

Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, Kleinfeltersville, Lebanon County;
717-733-1512; Visitors Center open March to November; best known for thousands of migrating wildfowl in March/April and October/November.